Forget the Resolutions. What Do You Value Right Now?

Yesterday was a challenging day. I had to regroup on some important work plans. My publisher and I wrestled unsuccessfully over a title for my new book. And because I wasn’t paying attention, I put peroxide solution on my contact lens instead of saline and had to make an emergency call to my eye doctor to make sure I didn’t do permanent damage.

It wasn’t exactly how I’d planned the day. But then, most years don’t turn out the way I planned either.

I can make all the resolutions I want, but Spirit has Her own ideas, helping me kick up anything from dirt clods to rose petals as I head down my path.

That’s why, this morning, when I received a beautiful card from a friend, I took it to heart, literally. I held it to my chest, feeling its reassuring energy and soaking up all its goodness to counter the discouragement I was feeling.

“It’s time,” I heard my inner wisdom say, “to do a better job of valuing what you have rather than making resolutions for something different.”

Ah, yes.

I was looking out the window at the time, seeing the bare trees against the snow but not really appreciating their stark beauty.

I was standing in a home that’s toasty warm even though it’s four degrees outside–but not giving thought to how happy I am about the miracle of central heat.

I was using my eyes to read my friend’s card, but not fully honoring the gift of healthy vision.

Valuing our lives involves gratitude, but it goes beyond that. It calls on our capacity for mindfulness, thoughtful attention, and understanding how everything we’ve ever experienced has worked toward the good of where we are right now.

It paves the way for more goodness by opening our sacred heart to contentment–and even to joy.

We can offer many passing thanks throughout the day. But to fully value something or someone means stopping, studying, and sharing the energy of it.

We can be grateful for something as exquisite as a sunrise, for example. But appreciating the fine points of its magnificence takes more time and intention. It means becoming one with it, making it a part of us, holding it to our chest literally or figuratively and soaking up its goodness.

So, this week, think about the New Year not in terms of making resolutions for tomorrow, but in terms of valuing what’s right in front of you today.

• Make a list of the things and people you value most in your life.
• Journal about a time when you’ve valued something or someone deeply. How did the very act of appreciation impact you?
• Ask yourself what or who in your life deserves more appreciation. How could you express that, starting today?

Blessings,

Deb

Note: This blog was published earlier this week in our Tending Your Inner Garden^® newsletter.